Whistlestop (25 page)

“
You have to understand
that some immortals choose mortal partners. You and I have done
that as well, although I doubt either of us would choose to marry
one of them. Why waste the time when there are so many to enjoy? I
had no idea Sadie Divine Truth would be there. It is a shame about
the elf seer though.”

“
How do you mean? Did you
wish to mate with him too?”

“
No, of course not, but
your relationship with the Wizard Master allowed us to control
Whistlestop for quite some time. Now the elves have learned of our
deception and will not likely fall for it again.”

“
You can’t be thinking of
sending me back there.”

“
No, but I do have another
mission in mind, dearest.” He held out his hands and two filled
shot glasses appeared in them. “Let’s have a toast to it now!” They
swallowed their drinks. “Please sit on my knee, Daughter, and let
me tell you about Earth.”

She sat on his lap and put her arm
around his shoulders. “You’re going to send me to that horrible
place. It seems close enough to hell already without us doing
anything.”

“
I sense that something
quite bizarre occurred there very recently, but none of your
brothers or sisters has reported anything.”

“
What about the
ogre?”

“
I’m afraid Bartok claims
that nothing has happened as well.”

“
Should I rip him apart
until he admits the truth?”

“
No, absolutely not! No
harm must come to Bartok yet. I’m not sure why, but something in
the back of my mind is telling me that he might yet serve a
purpose.”

“
Honestly Father, there are
thousands of your children there now. What more is there for me to
do?”

Linger held out his open palm and a
pendant materialized there. “Take this and wear it at all times. It
will disguise you so that none of your siblings will recognize you.
You will be just another slave in the camp. Find out what the
humans know, or perhaps you’ll overhear some of your brothers
speaking of something unusual. When you do, I want you to come back
to me and report.”

“
So you can punish my
brothers. I am not a snitch, Father.” She pushed his hand away and
stood up. “Find another dupe.”

“
Darling, you misjudge me.
I swear I will not punish any of your siblings or the ogre.” He
stood and put his arm around her shoulders. “What I sensed was far
beyond a simple prison break or mistake made by one of your
siblings. Something of tremendous importance happened there, and
now your brothers are afraid to tell me about it in fear of
punishment. Yet I think what happened might change the future of
the universe forever. If I don’t learn what it was soon, it may be
too late for all of us.”

She slipped the necklace over her
head. “At least can I be pretty?”

He laughed. “My darling, there is
nothing better than a beautiful woman to make a man talk. And thank
you for helping.”

“
What else are daughters
for?”

“
It’s time to leave this
place, Lydia,” Jedidiah Beetleweed Mosscatcher said.

Lydia was sitting on the floor of the
cavern with her back resting against the dragon Emmanuel, who was
still asleep. “I thought we came here to befriend the dragons, Jed.
Isn’t that what we’re doing?”

“
No, the elf is correct,”
Archimedes replied. “We will join your army, but we are still short
of soldiers.”

“
We must visit the Temple
of Light to enlist monks and then go to the Valley of Thrace and
discuss the upcoming war with the trehbor.”

“
Jed, surely you know the
emperor has already added more of his guards to ensure the
continued support of the trehbor. It’s a waste of time.” She leaned
back and closed her eyes.

He reached down and grabbed her hands
and pulled her up to her feet. “Lydia, I will not sit back here
while my brother is working to build our army!” Emmanuel opened his
eyes and looked at the two in shock. “This is the job we were given
to do, and by God we’re going to do it!”

“
Is something wrong,
Jedidiah?” the young dragon asked.

“
Manny, can you believe
it?” Lydia scoffed. “Jed wants to go and get the trehbor’s army to
join us. He is on the emperor’s side! We might as well ask Linger
to switch sides for all the good it will do.”

“
It makes perfect sense to
me,” the white dragon concurred. “The Trehbor of Thrace was never
loyal to Karl August Galantine Armstrong. Only the emperor’s
soldiers keep him in line. How do you expect to stop them,
Jedidiah?”

“
We will get the warrior
monks from the Temple of Light to assist us.”

“
Good idea.”

“
What are you two talking
about?” Lydia shouted. “The monks won’t help us. They only fight to
protect the Temple. Why would they take up arms against the empire
and risk everything?”

“
Forces of the empire
attacked the temple last night, shortly after you and I ran into
the Evil One,” Emmanuel reported.

“
Really?” she
asked.

“
I’m afraid so, my dear,”
Jed replied.

“
Can we at least take the
dragons to help us?”

“
Sadly no,” Archimedes
sighed.

Jed put his hand on Lydia’s shoulder
and said, “They have their own battle to fight. I am going to
transmute with them to Asterpast. The empire has limited assets
there, and we need to free the sacred Temple of the Inner Sanctum.
The abilities of all the seers of Asterpast have been reduced due
to the presence of demons there. There are also many thousands of
residents in prisons. Once the dragons are there safely, I will
return. Then you and I will fold to the Temple of
Light.”

“
Who came up with all these
plans while I was asleep?” Lydia asked.

“
That would be me,”
Emmanuel smiled.

Jed touched Lydia’s cheek. “Darling
Lydia, we are all going to war today. You might want to hug and
kiss the dragons as we might not see one other alive
again.”

Twenty minutes later, Lydia was
sitting alone in the cavern. She sat on the spot where Emmanuel had
slept. The ground was still warm. She closed her eyes and instantly
saw the image of the white dragon lying on the cold ground with a
dozen arrows piercing his skin. Pale blood pooled underneath him
and his breathing was shallow and weak. She pushed the image out of
her mind. Emmanuel’s soft voice spoke in her head. “Fear not,
darling Lydia. It is not our time to die yet. I will see you
again.” She opened her eyes to see Jedidiah standing in front of
her.

“
Okay, that’s done. Are you
ready to go?”

“
Let’s go kick Karl’s
butt!” She stood and Jed took her arm. They flattened, shrank to a
line and then a dot and disappeared.

They were standing in the open
courtyard. The mirrored globe was smashed and lying in the base of
the fountain. The water jets were off and the entire area smelled
of smoke. Several of the shade trees had been blasted and were
still burning. Most of the temple lay in ruins and no residents
could be seen. “It looks worse than I thought. Be prepared for an
attack.” He held his staff in position to strike and Lydia removed
her sword and dagger. Jed pointed for her to go in one direction
and he took a different route. Lydia headed for the dining hall.
Its size would make it a good spot for a headquarters. Something
just ahead caught her eye and she walked over and looked down. A
child’s doll was lying on the ground. She was repulsed by the
thought that innocents were here when the attack began. She kept
moving toward her target while keeping her head on a swivel to look
for danger. Lydia crouched at the bottom of the stairway that led
up to the banquet hall. She crawled up the steps and peeked into
the room. Several dozen monks sat at the tables listening to the
abbot speak, but she could not make out his words. She looked
around again but could not sense any danger, so she slid her swords
into their sheaths and walked into the room.

The abbot’s eyes opened wide when he
saw her. “Lydia?” The monks all turned to look at her. Many wore
bloody bandages and all looked desperately tired. “Lydia, look what
the emperor has done! How could this happen?”

She walked through the crowd and
hugged the abbot tightly. “I’m sorry about this, Rick, but this is
what we knew would happen eventually.”

The monks looked edgy and began to
talk among themselves. “Whatever do you mean, Lydia?”

She faced the crowd and shouted,
“Listen to me! We did not start this fight. The emperor started it
by kidnapping my cousin from the Empty Realm. You all remember when
the dragon came to steal him away. If Karl had never gone to that
planet, my uncle, cousin and his son would have lived out their
lives in obscurity, happy to be free from this place. I would have
been the last Knight of Winterpast and the empire would have won.
You had peace with the empire because you did not threaten them.
Did you really believe that peace could last forever? Once the
knights were all dead, the emperor would have nothing to fear. They
might have left you alone, or they might have taxed you to death,
or even slaughtered all of you just for Karl’s personal
gratification.”

“
What do we do now?” one of
the monks asked.

“
We fight!” Jedidiah
shouted from the other side of the room. The monks spun around to
see him. He strode confidently through the room, smiling at Lydia.
He stood by her side and whispered, “This is your crowd. Win them
over.”

She began to speak softly, “Now we
have all learned of the treachery of the empire. If you think this
was the only attack he has planned, then you are all fools. We must
take the battle to him. We must go to the Valley of Thrace and
convince the trehbor to join us.”

“
We are not soldiers,
Lydia,” Rick argued. “We are men of God!”

“
Men of God can die too,
Abbot,” she replied. “I understand and honor the oaths you have all
taken, and we will do what we can to preserve them. But we need
your help to get the trehbor on our side. We want you to defend us
and yourselves. We will not order you to attack, but you have to
realize who we are dealing with. The emperor is supported by the
Evil One, whose name must never be spoken here. His children guard
the trehbor. We need to destroy them, convince the trehbor to join
us and build our army, all before more demons are sent to fight
us.”

“
With all due respect, that
seems impossible,” Rick countered. “Between us and the trehbor, we
might have a few thousand soldiers, but we are facing the Emperor
of the Universe, with countless troops and evil demons on his side.
We will all die!”

“
Everybody dies, Rick,”
Jedidiah interjected. “We can choose to sit here and rebuild the
temple and forget the attack. When the next attack comes, the few
of us left alive can do the same thing, and it can continue until
all life is destroyed. Please know that we are not alone. My
brother and nephew are out building armies too. We have many
friends facing death today for this glorious mission. Will we stand
as men, or cower and become slaves? It is your choice.”

“
Poppy, what makes a person
choose evil?” Lilian asked. She and her great grandfather were
sitting in the family room of the small house she visited when they
first arrived in the Upper Realm.

“
That’s a good question
without a good answer, Lilian,” he replied. He was sitting on an
overstuffed leather chair with his feet up on a footstool. “I don’t
think anyone wakes up after a life of being good and proper and
says, ‘From now on, evil is for me.’ I think it is like a stroll in
the woods. You walk for a time and come upon a fork in the road.
You choose one path for whatever reason and continue. A little
later, there is another fork and another decision is made. After
enough time, you might find you made too many bad choices and are
now at the edge of a cliff or deep in a patch of poison ivy. At the
time you made each choice, you did not necessarily know it was for
evil, but as you continue to make similar choices, you can find
yourself hopelessly lost.”

The front door opened and loud
clanging sounded in the foyer. The pocket door flew open and little
Jeremy entered wearing steel and leather armor and carrying a long
sword. Lilian noticed that he looked a bit taller today. “Hi,
Poppy! Hi, booger-breath!” He turned around and clanged his way up
the stairs.

“
Little creep,” she
snarled.

“
Darling, you know you have
to keep your calm. We don’t want the universe to explode because
your little brother was rude. You must keep your gift in
mind.”

“
I know, but he is such a
child!”

“
True, but did you notice
he’s taller today?”

“
Maybe Uncle Gabriel is
stretching him on a rack?”

Emmanuel laughed. “I don’t think
that’s it, dear.”

Angelina, Lilian’s grandmother,
entered the room with a tray of glasses of iced tea and set it on
the table. She handed a glass to her father and granddaughter and
sat next to Lilian. “Father, what are you going to do about
Sadie?”